SEDUCTIVE PRETENSE

LOUIS' BACK!

As the days went by, I fell in love with my new job. I was so busy that I didn't have the time to brood or worry. Yes, I missed my dad dearly, but working made me get over my grief and made me a stronger person. My grief was masked with joy. I worked from Mondays to Fridays, and on the weekends, I had off days.

Mr. Martin had been a very easy employer, as they got along quite well. He didn't even treat me like a housekeeper, as he treated me more like I was his daughter, strengthening their relationship. I wondered if the old man had any children of his own, as I never saw any one that could be mistaken for his child in his house. I wondered where the exquisite and picturesque went. I had only seen him once, and that was when I came out of the interview; ever since then, he had vanished into thin air. Weird! I wondered if he could be his son because they looked so much alike, but I struck the thought away at the thought that their demeanors were nothing alike. The first impression he made was rude. I remembered clearly what he had said on my first day in the mansion. "Hey! you. "What're you looking for?" More like, "What're you here for?" How rude. What a brat!

Wherever he went, it was not my business to worry about, I thought.

****

I grabbed my bags and dragged them into the trunk of his car. After tossing them inside, I slammed the door shut and then motioned to the driver's side.

I slipped into the car, sloped into the seat, and extracted the key from my pocket, key in hand. In a flash, I inserted the key into the ignition, and the car came to life. I heaved a sigh of exhaustion as I steered the wheel in my hand.

I was returning home. After five years of studying at the university, I was finally returning home, for good this time. Returning home was just the best part, not the part that followed. to my father. I was returning to his father. The overbearing Martin The almighty Martin It wasn't that my father was devilish or that I hated him either; it was just that he never spared me much time in his childhood, and now, when I got older, he suddenly became interested in my life. He wanted to know everything about me, and that creeped me out. My personal and private life was none of my father's business, but mine alone, and I wanted to keep it that way for as long as I could.

As I drove home, I kept thinking about my father and what I might meet when I got home. I just hoped his father wouldn't try anything that would anger, infuriate, or disturb him this time. It had always been one stunt or another, and it already seemed like a regular occurrence to me. I was fed up.

I approached the gate of my home and blared the car horn. The gate swung open, and I made my way into the building. I halted the car at the parking spot and motioned to the booth to extract my luggage. I flopped them to the ground and swung the least heavy of them to his shoulder, skipping through the doorway.

I crashed into the couch, exhaling. I was exhausted. I had been steering the wheel for hours and keeping my eyelashes atop my eyes, and now it was time to rest. My eyelashes descended down my eyes, enveloping my olive-brown eyes. I was slowly drifting into sleep.

"Louis!" A loud voice called out. Oh man! What does the old man want this time? I groaned, melting into the couch.

***

I was seated beside one of the Rose beds in the Martin mansion, Rachel by my side. Rachael was the cook, and we had turned into good friends over the course of my stay. Rachael had assisted me in getting familiar with my tasks at the house, and this often pulled us closer.

Rachael giggled at what she heard me say and gave me a playful punch to the arm.

Mr. Martin cleared his throat meaningfully, signaling for me to come. I rose from my seat and walked briskly over to my employer.

"Good evening, Mr. Martin." I said, with a warm smile plastered to my lips. I curtsied in front of him.

"Evening, Larissa." He remarked. He paused for a while and said. "My son's back." Mr. Martin said.

"Ohh- "I didn't know you had a son." I said, with an amused look on my face. Oh! There it was! The Exquisite Picturesque must be his son, but where has he been all this time? Why did he leave his father all alone in the grand house? I thought to myself. Well, not only was he rude, he was heartless to leave his father to himself. What a heartless brat, I thought.

He chuckled softly, revealing the wrinkled corners of his face and his shrinking jawline. "Well, most workers here don't really see him around, but now he's back."

Mr. Martin said.

I wondered why I hadn't caught a glimpse of him. He probably just got back, I thought. "Um, do you need me to prepare a room for him?" I asked.

"Uh- Yes." Mr. Martin said, stroking his jaw.

"Alright, sir. I'll leave now." I motioned to leave, but I was halted to a stop by Mr. Martin's grip on my arm. I removed my gaze from the floor and fixed it on his face. What was happening? I thought to myself.

"Well, Larissa. The thing is... He paused. "I need your assistance with, uh, my son." He removed his grip from my arm to avoid frightening me.

Puzzled, I searched his eyes for answers, but there were none at the moment. "Um, if it's something I can help with, I surely will." I assured him.

"I think my son is gay." I gulped, choking with laughter, internally. The Exquisite Picturesque was gay? What could I possibly do about it? Can you talk him out of being gay? I was confused. Why was Mr. Martin so bothered? Being gay is normal. It's accepted.

"Okay?" Larissa asked, unsure of where the conversation was heading.

"Well, sooner or later, I'll need an heir, and that would be him, and when the time comes, he'll need an heir of his own too, and that's where the problem comes in." "He can't have a child while being gay." Mr. Martin emphasized

I still didn't see how this became a problem. There was a thing called adoption, and I didn't see why this man was so bothered or how this situation involved me. I listened, trying to decipher how I got into all of this. Did he want me to talk him out of being gay? I didn't get it.

"And that's where you come in." I furrowed my brows and narrowed my eyes; confusion glistened in my eyes.

"M- Me?" I stammered. I am still unsure of how I would help him become homophobic.

"Yes, you!" He stretched forth his hands flatly. "I want you to seduce my son."

My eyes widened, and my eyes popped out of their sockets. My heart jumped out of my chest. I had a hard time processing what Mr. Martin had just told me. My hearing twitched as I wished I had not just heard what he had just said. What did he take me for? Some kind of harlot that wealthy men use to seduce their gay sons to become straight? This was unbelievable. I could have shouted right in his face and made him know that what he had just said was prophesied. It was unheard of. I kept my anger in check because I needed my job, and I wasn't proud enough to explode and lose it over what could have been handled with a simple conversation. This was a misunderstanding, right? I would just have to talk to him and make him see reasons why I couldn't seduce his son for him as he wanted.

I cleared my throat meaningfully and forced a fake smile onto my lips. "But, sir, I can't possibly do--" I tried to say something, but before I could finish, Mr. Martin cut in.

"I'll pay you five hundred thousand dollars. I'll give you time to think about it." Mr. Martin pleaded

Air rushed out of my lungs, my cheeks heated up, and my jaws fell open.

Five hundred freaking thousand!